MINNESOTA 6, SEATTLE 0 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, April 26.
Batting stars: Dan Gladden was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs. Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4. Chili Davis was 2-for-2 with a home run (his fourth), two walks, and two RBIs. Junior Ortiz was 2-for-3 with two walks. Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4 with two runs.
Pitching star: Scott Erickson pitched a complete game shutout, giving up five hits and four walks and striking out one.
Opposition star: Alvin Davis was 1-for-2 with two walks.
The game: Each team loaded the bases in the first inning but did not score. In the second, two out walks to Scott Leius and Greg Gagne were followed by Gladden's two-run double to put the Twins up 2-0. Davis homered leading off the third to make it 3-0. In the fourth, a walk to Gladden was followed by two-out singles by Puckett and Davis to make it 4-0.
With one out in the sixth, singles by Knoblauch and Puckett and a walk to Davis again loaded the bases. A force out scored one run and an Ortiz single brought home another to make it 6-0.
Other than the first inning, the biggest Mariner threat came in the eighth. Ken Griffey, Jr. led off with a double and Davis singled to put men on first and third with one out. Pete O'Brien lined back to the pitcher, who turned it into a double play to end the inning.
WP: Erickson (2-2). LP: Randy Johnson (2-2). S: None.
Notes: Gene Larkin was at first base, with Kent Hrbek getting the day off. Ortiz was in the game as Erickson's personal catcher.
Larkin was 1-for-5 and was batting .381. Puckett raised his average to .353. Knoblauch was batting .333 and was 7-for-12 in his last three games. Davis raised his average to .315. Erickson had an ERA of 2.03.
Shane Mack was back in the lineup in center field but was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .118. Randy Bush was 0-for-1 and was batting .130. Carmelo Castillo was 1-for-1 and was batting .143. Leius was 0-for-3 with two walks and was batting .150. Gladden raised his average to .155.
Erickson threw 124 pitches in his complete game. Johnson threw 111 pitches in just five innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and seven walks and striking out three. While Johnson wasn't the star he would ultimately become, he was already a good pitcher and had made the all-star team in 1990. He just hadn't found his control yet. 1991 was the second of three consecutive seasons in which he would lead the league in walks.
The Twins had played all of their first seventeen games against west coast teams. It would go to nineteen games before they played their first non-west coast team, Boston on April 30.
The Twins had won three in a row and five of six.
Record: The Twins were 7-10, in seventh (last) place in the American League West, 3.5 games behind the White Sox. They one game behind Seattle and Texas, who were tied for fifth.